Each
year about this time public health authorities urgently call for universal
influenza vaccination, leading the public to believe that every man,
woman, and child should proceed, herd-like to various medical and pharmacy
loci for inoculation or face a flu epidemic comparable to those in the
past that killed thousands. One would think with pharmacies nationwide
offering the vaccine and public authorities touting its benefits that
flu vaccination is a proven, reliable, and safe means to prevent the
flu. Think again. Among the false propaganda messages disseminated by
our governments is the representation that the flu vaccine will protect
Americans from the flu. Years from now as medical science advances,
we may well look back at the decades during which these governmentally
prodded gatherings for mass vaccination took place with either horror
or bemusement.

To
get to the bottom of the flu vaccine efficacy question, I turned to
one of the nation’s most respected immunologists; he is also one
of the nation’s most respected oncologists: Dr. Charles B. Simone
(see Dr.Simone.com). Dr. Simone is a National Cancer Institute trained
medical and radiation oncologist and immunologist. He has treated many
national and international luminaries, like Vice President Hubert Humphrey
and leading pols from Europe and heads of state in the Middle East,
members of Congress, and ordinary folks too. He has developed new cancer
drugs and methods of treating cancer. He has published extensively,
and in the peer-reviewed literature. He advised President Reagan on
cancer prevention. He has testified before Congress on repeat occasions.
He is a remarkable diagnostician, scholar, and healer. His bedside manner
elevates patients’ spirits and sustains them in the hardest of
times. He is a tireless practitioner, driving himself to the nth degree
in order to provide the best possible care for ailing patients. Because
he is a person of impeccable credentials, intelligence, integrity, and
sincerity, he is among the very best to question concerning the efficacy
of the flu vaccine. I share with you his candid answers to my questions
concerning the flu vaccine.

Dr.
Simone explains that there are “more than 200 viruses that cause
influenza and influenza-like illness,” yet, “at best, flu
vaccines might be effective against only influenza A and B, which represent
about 10% of all circulating viruses that cause the flu like syndrome.”
Dr. Simone explained that the flu vaccine generally does not prevent
the flu in babies, in adults, or in the elderly. He relies on data compiled
from the Cochrane Collaboration and the Lancet
Infectious Diseases journal. He explains that the flu vaccine is
generally of little or no efficacy in the populations public health
authorities most urgently demand be vaccinated:

“Not
in Babies: 51 studies involving 294,000 children aged 6 -24
months found there was ‘no evidence that injecting [them] with
a flu shot was any more effective than placebo.’ In children older
than 2 years, it was only effective 33% of the time in preventing the
flu. [Cochrane Database of Systemic Reviews. 2 (2008)].

Not in
Adults: 48 reports including 66,000 adults: ‘Vaccination
only reduced the risk of influenza infection by 6% and reduced the
number of missed worked days by less than one day (0.16).’ Cochrane
1. 2006.

Not in
the Elderly: 5707 articles screened, 64 studies used in 98
flu season: ‘Evidence for protection is lacking.’ Lancet
and Cochrane.”

In
short, precious few Americans experience any protective effect from
the flu vaccine.

The
next question that logically arises is whether the flu vaccine is dangerous.
Dr. Simone explains that indeed in specific cases flu vaccines have
caused injury, including “serious harms such as narcolepsy and
febrile convulsions, and even a neurologic disease called Guillain Barre.”
The public health authorities do not spend much time or effort informing
Americans of those cases. The incidence of harm does not dissuade public
health authorities from mounting year after year an aggressive campaign
to induce more and more Americans to be vaccinated. They do that aware
that as more of us become vaccinated, chances are the numbers of people
suffering flu vaccine related injuries will increase.

Dr.
Simone reveals that far from simply failing to inform, public health
authorities join with others to manipulate the evidence. He states that
“the Corchrane reviews show that reliable evidence on influenza
vaccines is thin” but Dr. Simone finds “evidence of widespread
manipulation of conclusions and spurious notoriety of the studies.”

Mercury
is a toxin, of course, but mercury is present in several forms of the
flu vaccine. A form of mercury called thimerosal, and even mercury itself,
appears in some flu vaccines as a preservative. Dr. Simone directs those
curious about the presence of those toxins in vaccine products to visit
the FDA’s web site to see for themselves. For its part, and
without the benefit of conclusive scientific proof, FDA represents to
the public that the mercury in vaccines is harmless, but that position
is certainly not uncontroversial. In any event, Dr. Simone explains
that not all flu vaccines lawful for sale to the public contain thimerosal
and mercury, which begs the ultimate question: If vaccines can be lawfully
made without those toxins, why in the world are the manufacturers making
them with them?

Given
the absence of flu vaccine efficacy for such large segments of the American
population, why then do public health authorities on the federal and
state levels aggressively campaign in favor of universal flu vaccination?
Why do they convey the false impression that nearly everyone vaccinated
will be protected from the flu, when in fact very few will experience
any benefit and some may be harmed? “Governmental agencies like
the FDA and CDC employ scientists but are led by politically appointed
people who ultimately approve medicines including the flu vaccine,”
explains Dr. Simone. “Scientists should guide our science policies
and not politically appointed people. The weakest among us, the very
young and the elderly, need the most protection because they contract
the most complications, and they are virtually unprotected by vaccination.”

If
we choose not to have the flu vaccine administered either to ourselves
or our children, we become increasingly subject to a medical, public
health, and media trifecta that vilifies and condemns us as ignorant
and dangerous. The trifecta blames every non-conformist for any increase
in influenza or any death experienced by influenza anywhere in the United
States. The trifecta depends on a grossly false causation analysis.
Moreover, even were one to presume the flu vaccine one hundred percent
efficacious, the trifecta explains that universal vaccination is the
only way to ensure adequate protection, yet no public health system—with
the exception of one administered by a brutally authoritarian state—could
compel every American to be vaccinated.

That
is because, at root, the issue of vaccination is a fight over individual
liberty and sovereignty, and there are those who will never submit except
by force to the demands of the state. No government on earth should
have the power to compel competent adults to receive medication. Individual
liberty means very little indeed if we have no right to refuse receipt
of unwanted medical treatments, even if the state presumes the medication
necessary to protect us or others. It is precisely that kind of medical
tyranny that one of America’s founding fathers, Benjamin Rush,
decried.

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There
is an alternative to that highly paternalistic and intrusive approach.
If one has a communicable disease that threatens others, certainly the
law can compel that person to avoid interaction with others while contagious.
Indeed, during any future contagion, the law can restrict the right
of the infected to be in public places and can compel the quarantine
of those infected. In the last analysis, good sanitation measures and
a sense of occasion go much farther in protecting others than the largely
ineffectual flu vaccine.

To
avoid flu transmission, Dr. Simone recommends hygienic measures, healthy
lifestyles, and consumption of dietary substances associated with healthy
immune system function. He recommends “frequent decontamination
techniques of washing hands, face, and proper sinus hygiene.”
He recommends “hydrogen peroxide gargle.” He recommends
“proper hydration.” He also recommends daily consumption
of a good multiple vitamin, 50 mg of zinc once a week, and supplementation
with quercetin, vitamin D3, resveratrol, and vitamin C. He suggests
that drinking green tea may be helpful as well due to the catechins
in the tea.

Jonathan
W. Emord is an attorney who practices constitutional and administrative
law before the federal courts and agencies. Congressman Ron Paul calls
Jonathan “a hero of the health freedom revolution” and says
“all freedom-loving Americans are in [his] debt . . . for his courtroom
[victories] on behalf of health freedom.” He has defeated the FDA
in federal court a remarkable eight times, six on First Amendment
grounds, and is the author of Amazon bestsellers The
Rise of Tyranny, Global
Censorship of Health Information,
and Restore
the Republic. He is also the American Justice columnist for
U.S.A. Today Magazine. For more info visit Emord.com.

Each
year about this time public health authorities urgently call for universal
influenza vaccination, leading the public to believe that every man, woman,
and child should proceed, herd-like to various medical and pharmacy loci
for inoculation or face a flu epidemic comparable to those in the past
that killed thousands.